Chapter 4: The Psychological Person

Question 1

Psychology

Answer 1

Defined as mind and mental process.

Question 2

Cognition

Answer 2

Our conscious or preconscious thinking process.

Question 3

Emotion

Answer 3

Appraisal of stimulus, by changing body sensations, and by displays of expressive gestures.

Question 4

Affect

Answer 4

Psychological manifestations of feelings.

Question 5

Unconscious feelings

Answer 5

Of which we are not aware but which influence our behavior.

Question 6

Mood

Answer 6

A feeling disposition that is more stable than emotion, less intense, and less tied to a specific situation.

Question 7

Schema

Answer 7

An internalized representation of the world or an ingrained and systematic pattern of thought, action, and problem solving.

Question 8

Assimilation

Answer 8

Responding to experiences based on existing schema.

Question 9

Accommodation

Answer 9

Changing schema when new situations cannot be incorporated within an existing on.

Question 10

Cognitive operations

Answer 10

To use abstract thoughts and ideas that are not tied to situational sensory and motor information.

Question 11

Information processing theory

Answer 11

We receive stimulation from the outside and code it with sensory reception in the nervous system. The information is first represented in some set of brain activities and then integrated (by accommodation it assimilation) and stored for purposes of present and future adaptation to the environment.

Question 12

Piaget’s stages of cognitive operations:

Sensorimotor stage (birth-2)

Answer 12

infant is egocentric and begins to sense objects existing apart from self.

Question 13

Piaget’s stages of cognitive operations:

Preoperational stage (2-7)

Answer 13

Child remains primarily egocentric but discovers rules that be be applied to new incoming information. The child tends to overgeneralize rules, however, and thus makes many cognitive errors.

Question 14

Piaget’s stages of cognitive operations:

Concrete operations (7-11)

Answer 14

The child can solve concrete problems through the application of logical problem-solving strategies.

Question 15

Piaget’s stages of cognitive operations:

Formal operations stage (11-adulthood)

Answer 15

The person becomes able to solve real and hypothetical problems using abstract concepts.

Question 16

Social learning theory

Answer 16

We are motivated by nature to experience pleasure and avoid pain.

Question 17

Modeling

Answer 17

Behavior is also acquired by witnessing how the actions of others are reinforced.

Question 18

Cognitive mediation

Answer 18

The space/thinking that social learning theorists believe happens between the occurrence of a stimulus and our response.

Question 19

Multiple intelligences

Answer 19

In this theory the brain is understood not as a single cognitive system but as a central unit of neurological functioning that houses relatively separate cognitive facilities.

Question 20

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development:

Preconventional morality

Answer 20

Child’s primary motivation is to avoid punishment and receive immediate rewards.

Question 21

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development:

Conventional morality

Answer 21

Emphasizes adherence to social rules.

A person at this level of morality might be very troubled by circumstances that make her or him different from other people.

Many people never more on past this level.

Question 22

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development:

Postconventional morality

Answer 22

Characterized by a concern with moral principals transcending those of their own society.

Question 23

Cognitive theory

Answer 23

We developed mental schemata, or general processing rules that become enduring, from past experiences. These schemata discriminate and code stimuli, evaluate experiences and make judgements.

Question 24

Cognitive error:

Absolute thinking

Answer 24

Viewing all experience as all good or all bad and failing to understand it can be a mixture of both.

Question 25

Cognitive error: Overgeneralization

Answer 25

Assuming that deficiencies in one area of life necessarily imply deficiencies other areas.

Question 26

Cognitive error: Selective abstraction

Answer 26

Focusing only on the negative aspects of a solution and consequently overlooking its positive aspects.

Question 27

Cognitive error: Arbitrary interference

Answer 27

Reaching a negative conclusion about a situation with insufficient evidence.

Question 28

Cognitive error: Magnification

Answer 28

Creating large problems out of small ones.

Question 29

Cognitive error: Minimization

Answer 29

Making large problems small and this not dealing adequately with them.

Question 30

Cognitive error: Personalization

Answer 30

Accepting blame for negative events without sufficient evidence.

Question 31

Behavior change strategies: Desensitization

Answer 31

Confronting a difficult challenge through step-by-step process of approach and anxiety control

Question 32

Behavioral change strategies: Shaping

Answer 32

Differentially reinforcing approximations of a desired but difficult behavior so as to help the person eventually master the behavior.

Question 33

Behavioral change strategies: Behavioral rehearsal

Answer 33

Role-playing a desired behavior after seeing it modeled appropriately and then applying the skill to real-life situations.

Question 34

Behavioral change strategies: Extinctions

Answer 34

Eliminating a behavior by reinforcing alternative behaviors.

Question 35

Primary emotions

Answer 35

Evolved as a specific reactions with survival value for the human species. They mobilize us, focus our attention, and signal out state of minds to others. Usually limited to anger, fear, sadness, joy, anticipation.

Question 36

Secondary emotions

Answer 36

Are more variable among people and are socially acquired. They evolved as humans developed more sophisticated means of learning, controlling, and managing emotions to promote flexible cohesion in social groups.

Question 37

Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 37

Primary internal drives and unconscious mental activity in human behavior. Sexual and aggressive drives are not “feelings” in themselves but they motivate behavior that will presumably gratify our impulses. We experience positive emotions when drives are gratified and negative emotions when they are frustrated.

Question 38

Ego

Answer 38

Where our conscious mental functioning takes place. Responsible to negotiating between internal drives and the external world.

Question 39

Ego psychology

Answer 39

Ego is conceived at birth and not derived from the need to reconcile drives within the constraints of social living, as psychoanalytic theory would say. The ego is the source of our attention, concentration, learning, memory, perception.

Question 40

Attribution theory

Answer 40

Our experience of emotion is based on conscious evaluations we make about physiological sensations in particular social settings. We respond to situations as we understand them cognitively, which leads to directly to our experience of particular emotion.

Question 41

Emotional intelligence

Answer 41

Persons ability to process information about emotions accurately and effectively.

Question 42

Preconscious

Answer 42

Mental activity that is out of awareness but can be brought into awareness with prompting.

Question 43

Self psychology: Grandiose self

Answer 43

Arises from the positive affirmations of others we internalize; gives rise to our ambitions and enthusiasm.

Question 44

Self psychology: Idealized parent image

Answer 44

Represents guidance from others, which results in our ability to be self directed and to set goals.

Question 45

Self psychology: Twinship

Answer 45

Represents our natural social propensities to connect with others and through this process develop our individual talents and skills.

Question 46

Narrative therapy

Answer 46

We all engage in an ongoing process of constructing a life/personal story/narrative that determines our understanding of ourselves and our position in the world.